Hospital Workplace and Patient safety: The first interventions for positive outcome
Outline of the Article
I. Backgound
II. Objective
III. Errors due to fatigue of nursing personnel
IV. Healthcare Associated Infections
V. Personal Protective equipments
VI. Hand Hygiene
VII. Transitions of care and Patient Handoffs
VIII. Conclusion
IX. References
Hospital Workplace and Patient safety: The first interventions for positive outcome Background
Safety of any workplace is very important in
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Fatigue can also be prevented by employing relaxation techniques in care settings. There should also be proper screening techniques to understand the level of fatigue of particular nursing personnel on a particular day and if needed she should be deployed in less critical units to avoid chances of errors. This is because critical care patents often lack suitable coping strategies to combat the errors that jeopardize their safety.
Healthcare Associated Infections
Healthcare Associated Infections not only impacts the patients who are admitted but also the care providers who are deployed for providing care. The major healthcare associated infections are nosocomial infections and transmission diseases like hepatitis A and B. Nosocomial infections are hospital acquired infections and are mainly caused by gram negative organisms and methicilin resistant staphylococcus. These are opportunistic pathogens and whenever a patient is febrile or having a decreased immune function, these pathogens cause super infections that leads to increased morbidity and mortality in patients. These pathogens may also infect health care providers who have a compromised nutritional and immunological status and such individuals are readily attacked by these pathogens. The major cause of their prevalence is under dosing of antibiotic regimes, improper asepsis procedures in healthcare
The occurrence and undesirable complications from hospital acquired infections (HAIs) have been well recognized for the last several decades. The occurrence of HAIs continues to escalate at an alarming rate. HAIs originally referred to those infections associated with admission in an acute-care hospital (formerly called a nosocomial infection). These unanticipated infections develop during the course of health care treatment and result in significant patient illnesses and deaths (morbidity and mortality); prolong the duration of hospital stays; and necessitate additional diagnostic and therapeutic
Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), specifically those involving multi-drug resistant organisms such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are associated with increased morbidity and mortality, as well as higher cost of healthcare and longer length of hospital stays for patients. Each year, millions of people acquire infections while receiving care, treatment, and services in hospitals and other health care organizations.
Can you imagine the misery of being admitted to the hospital, only to become infected with a separate illness? Healthcare-associated infections are defined as infections not present and without evidence of incubation at the time of admission to a healthcare setting. (CDC, 2016) These infections are acquired as an indirect result of the necessity for the patient to endure a hospital stay. While the rate of these types of infections has decreased in recent years, nearly 1.7 Million cases of healthcare-associated infections are reported annually according to the Center for Disease Control. Healthcare-associated infections are a threat to patient safety and with just under 100,000 deaths a year resulting from healthcare-associated infections, more needs to be done to protect the people we have sworn to do no harm to.
Checking in to the hospital comes with a heavy price tag, and sometimes you get more than what you bargained for. As highly trained doctors, nurses, and staff traverse through the hospital, they carry with them microbial agents of disease. Although regarded as centers for treatment and prevention, hospitals are also known to harbor nosocomial, healthcare-associated, bacterial infections. These infections can be a result of overused or inappropriately used antibiotics and the breaching of infection containment policies by patients and staff. Though healthcare-associated infections have been decreasing, one infection inciting nosocomial bacterium,
In our nursing practice, the nurse is required to hold essential skills of clinical judgment and be a patient advocate to ensure the safety and the well-being of the patient we care for. Patient safety can be compromised if nurses are not able to identify potential issues thru assessment of the patient's sign and symptoms. Patient safety can also be compromised if nurses are afraid to speak up for our patient and question what we think or feel are unsafe acts or orders.
More than one million of Healthcare associated infections happen across healthcare settings every year, or 1 in 20 people admitted to any healthcare setting (Healthy people 2020, 2013). HAIs are the most common complication seen in hospitalized patients. HAIs increase morbidity, mortality, healthcare costs, and length of stay even after adjustment for the main underlying illness. According to the Center for Diseases Control (CDC, April 2013) 5 to 10% of patients admitted to acute-care hospitals, or long-term care facilities approximately 2 million patients per year in the United States acquire a nosocomial infection. At least 90,000 deaths per year are a result of HAIs, making it the fifth leading cause of death in acute-care hospitals. These
This paper will discuss and explain how patient safety measure lead to cost savings. Second, will briefly define the Joint Commission’s role in healthcare. Third, reflect on future nursing role in healthcare and how will contribute to the patient safety. Lastly, explain the role of the chief nursing officer regarding patient safety.
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) have been found to be number ten on the list of the leading causes of death in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have estimated that in a year HAIs cause 1.7 million infections, 99,000 associated deaths, all of which cost approximately $30 billion (Masud & Vykoukal, 2011). HAIs are the kind of infections that are acquired by patients during the course of receiving treatment for other conditions. HAIs in most cases affect those patients who are receiving medical surgical treatments or those with reduced host defenses as a result of age, underlying diseases, or even other conditions. For many years those patients that were affected by these infections were reported
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), one out of twenty five patients have obtained a health care associated infection (HAI) during their visit at a healthcare facility. This is approximately 1.7 million HAIs per year, just including the United States. From these incidents, roughly 17% result in death (Allen, 2015). Healthcare associated infections have become a major patient safety issue around the world. Patients are obtaining infections under the care of healthcare professionals when they are seeking help for a non-related issue. HAIs are some of the most common
Hi Mary. I agree, there is a need for increased fall education and patient safety awareness of staff. Nurses play a key role in patient safety. I believe that being a nurse is a constant evolution, we evolve as we practice. Nursing will never be stagnant and we see every day that nursing research helps to bring forth more effective nursing care. It is vital to emphasize the clinical nursing research to guide nursing practice and to improve the health and quality of life of our patients (Polit and Beck, 2012). Hospitalization increases fall risk because of unfamiliar environment, illnesses, and treatment. Patient falls and fall-related injuries are devastating to patients, clinicians, and the health care team. A single fall may result in a fear
Patient safety is an integral part of quality nursing care and patient outcomes. Quality care is dependent on the health care providers, nurses, hospitals, the government, pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies. The perplex multitude of contributing factors dictate the quality and safety that is provided to patients. Each entity is responsible for ensuring safe delivery of care to patients and their families. Our nation’s healthcare system was initially developed to treat acute illnesses and most of the money is spent on chronic conditions related to the aging population. Health care needs are becoming more complex than ever before, which results in a demand for nurses to achieve higher levels of education to meet these shifts (Institute
As we all know, patient safety in a healthcare setting is extremely important and is to be taken very seriously. This is a very challenging topic with any healthcare establishment, because people do make errors and it’s only human. It is everybody’s job within the facility, hospital, or any healthcare setting to work on making sure that the safety of every patient that enters and leaves their building is safe. We want patients to feel safe and confident when they have to go to the hospital for a procedure, or even to a skilled nursing facility to have rehabilitation or to eventually stay long term.
Hello Mary. I agree there is a need for increased fall education and patient safety awareness of staff. We play a vital role in patient safety and quality improvement. I believe that being a nurse is a constant learning, we learn as we practice. Nursing research helps us to bring forth more efficient nursing care. According to Beck and Polit, it is important to emphasize the clinical nursing research to guide nursing practice and to improve the health and quality of life of our patients (2012). Unfamiliar environment, illnesses, and treatment increase the risk of the patient for falls. We are restraint free in our long-term care unit. Staffs are always looking for alternatives to prevent falls such as medication changes, alarms, 1:1 sitter,
Safety needs is the second level of needs in the Maslow Hierarchy of needs. Nurses have to believe they are safe in order for their patients to feel and be safe. The nurse to patient ratio is another thing that the nurse manager or a leader should take into account and consideration. For this reason, it is important to understand the full scope of nursing practice other than the basic nursing tasks ‘nursing assessments, medication administration, dressing changes…’ “The nursing profession, including professional and specialty organizations, is responsible to its members and to the public to define the scope of practice and standards of practice” (American Nurses Association, 2017). Patients present with different diagnosis and needs which requires
Infection control within a healthcare facility is the prevention of the spread of many microorganisms from patient to patient, patient to a member of staff and also from the staff member to the patient that are in there care. The World Health Organisation have defined healthcare associated infections as an infection occurring in a patient in a hospital or other healthcare facility in whom the infection was not present or incubating at the time of admission. Every healthcare facility from hospitals to general practitioners office should have a designated member of staff or a team of people who ensure that the infection control procedures are abided by and adhered to at all times in order to protect both staff and patients. More than 300,000 people each year are affected by a healthcare associated infection and the cost of treatment for these patients is over £3,000 and there is also the cost of treatment after discharge.